May All Beings Be Happy!

The All Beings Zen Sangha welcomes and affirms all who come here to seek the Way, and who will work toward respectful acceptance of others across our many differences, harmonizing the one and the many.

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Donate By Check

Checks can be mailed to:

All Beings Zen Sangha
27290 Woodburn Hill Road
Mechanicsville, MD 20659

or to:

All Beings Zen Sangha
C/O  Rev. Inryū Ponce-Barger,
2801 Adams Mill Road NW 402
Washington DC 20009

Images

  • Evening Practice for April 17, 2025 7pm Eastern

    Here is the Zoom link to join in the cloud zendo, password if needed: 522050

    Tonight we will have a short service followed by one period of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between) and then our monthly Wellbeing Ceremony. We will conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali.

    Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.

    Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

    Order of Service

    Greeting by the Kokyo

    Evening Bell Chant

    Harmony of Difference and Equality

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    5 minutes of Kinhin (slow walking)

    Our monthly Wellbeing Ceremony

    Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

    Loving Kindness Meditation (call and response)

  • Baika Practice for April 15, 2025 6-7pm (in person only)

    Baikaryu Eisanka – Plum Blossom Style Hymns with bells.  in person only  – The current song we are learning is “Magokoro ni Ikiru” which means “Living with a Sincere Heart” Contact Zen’etsu @ zenjoyclay@gmail.com for more information.

  • Evening Practice for April 10, 2025 7pm Eastern

    Here is the Zoom link to join in the cloud zendo, password if needed: 522050

    Tonight we will have a short service followed by two periods of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between). We will conclude with chanting the Refuges in Pali. Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.

    Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

    Order of Service (text available at highlighted links)

    Greeting by the Kokyo

    Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

    Heart Sutra in Spanish

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    5 minutes of Kinhin (slow walking)

    25 Minute Zazen Period

  • Evening Practice for April 3, 2025 7pm Eastern

    Here is the Zoom link to join in the cloud zendo, password if needed: 522050

    Tonight we will have a short service followed by two periods of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between). We will have our monthly pass the feather sharing and conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali. Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.

    Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

    Order of Service (text available at highlighted links)

    Greeting by the Kokyo

    Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

    The Harmony of Difference and Sameness

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    5 minutes of Kinhin (slow walking)

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    Four Great Vows

    Pass the feather

    Refuges in Pali

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  • Blue Ridge Farm Spring Half-Day Retreat Recap

    On Sunday, March 23rd, All Beings Zen Sangha gathered for a half-day retreat at Blue Ridge Farm. Just as the sun was rising, we sat together for three periods of zazen in the ‘pig-shed-zendo,’ followed by periods of kinhin (walking meditation) across our Sangha member’s beautiful farm. After sitting in silence, immersed in the sounds of nature, we added our own voices with a short chanting service and group sharings. We concluded our time of being together with a delicious potluck on the balcony, overlooking the spring landscape of Blue Ridge Farm — sharing stories, laughter, and nourishment amidst the ever-changing world. It was a wonderful and much needed retreat into nature.

    Below is a video clip of our day together. Enjoy! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1HNHJfUDgf/?mibextid=wwXIfr.

  • Morning Practice for March 28, 2025 6:30am Eastern

    Use this link to join. If asked for a password use 463913


    Photograph by Zen’etsu

    Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

    Order of Morning Practice

    Robe Chant

    40 minute period of Zazen

    Four Great Vows

    Morning Service

    Morning Greetings

  • Evening Practice for March 27, 2025 7pm Eastern

    Here is the Zoom link to join in the cloud zendo, password if needed: 522050

    Tonight we will have a short service followed by two periods of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between). We will have our monthly pass the feather sharing and conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali. Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.

    Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

    Order of Service (text available at highlighted links)

    Greeting by the Kokyo

    Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

    Heart Sutra in Chinese

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    5 minutes of Kinhin (slow walking)

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    Four Great Vows

    Introductions and announcements

    Refuges in Pali

  • Evening Practice for March 20, 2025 7 pm Eastern

    Here is the Zoom link to join in the cloud zendo, password if needed: 522050

    Tonight we will have a short service followed by one period of Zazen with an interval of Kinhin (5 minutes of slow walking in between) and then our monthly Wellbeing Ceremony. We will conclude by chanting the refuges in Pali.

    Please feel welcome to stay on zoom if you are able to share greetings with the sangha.

    Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

    Order of Service

    Greeting by the Kokyo

    Evening Bell Chant

    Harmony of Difference and Equality

    25 Minute Zazen Period

    5 minutes of Kinhin (slow walking)

    Our monthly Wellbeing Ceremony

    Enmei Jukko Kannon Gyo

    Loving Kindness Meditation (call and response)

    Refuges in Pali

  • Monthly Book Discussion for March 10, 2025 6pm-7pm Eastern

    Monday March 10th, 2025 6:00-7:00pmABZS Book Club Online only– For the month of March, we will be reading ‘Inciting Joy’ by Ross Gay. Please join on March 10th to share and discuss! Here is the link to sign in. If asked for a password use 099118

  • Seiryū Paula Represents ABZS at the Feb 18th, 2025 Ireicho National Tour Event in Washington D.C.

    Seiryū says “The Ireicho event was well attended, with many persons of Japanese descent and their extended families.  100 year old Masaharu Ishii stamped his sister’s name in the Ireicho to officially kick off the national tour before I arrived.  After stamping the Ireicho, a journalist, Daisuke Nakai, from the major Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun asked if he could speak with me.  “Why I was present, do I have Japanese heritage & what is the meaning for me.  I replied that I was stamping the names of Rev Jiko Nakade’s grandfather & 2 Daifukuji priests from Kealakekua, HI who were rounded up, taken to Sand Island off of Oahu then shipped by boat to the mainland detention camps.  There were no Buddhists in robes or rakusus in the audience.  Publically Rev Duncan Williams is very approachable and humble.  After the event he greeted me warmly saying, “I look forward to being involved with All Beings Zen Sangha again.””

    The 1942 Executive Order 9066 authorized the US military to remove people deemed a threat to national security leading to the incarceration of Japanese Americans in violation of their civil liberties. To acknowledge and remember them, the Ireicho, a book of the names of over 125,000 incarcerated persons is touring 12 of the continental internment camp sites.  Ireichomeans” book consoling spirits.”